Bittersweet - Our Toddler & Type1 Diabetes

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lately my mind has gotten busy again. Our levels are acting up probably due to growth spurts and increased appetite but I have to knuckle down and really do some solid basal testing (can you say, egg, cheese and chicken day?) and adjust correction rates. Yeah more testing, awesome.

The other issue that is truly weighing on me - kindergarten for 2014.

I need to train someone to look after my son, when hes never really been away from me for long before.

Step 1 in this process is getting together our plan of management in writing. Oh my goodness this task is so overwhelming I havent even begun. Its a type of paralysis. Everything is more engrossing- vacuuming, mopping and pruning fruit trees. If I close my eyes I envision a swanky folder with emergency action charts and laminated colour cheat sheets. Reality? Its just floating about in my head. Must make a solid start before we enter March.

Step 2 is transitioning to a pump this year in preparation for next year so needles wont need to be administered at kindy. To say im excited but freaking out is an understatement.

Thats where we are at peeps. Im relieved to put that in writing. Must.get.some.momentum.

Friday, January 11, 2013

For Christmas I got Reuben a Woody doll (of Toy Story fame). We sat together at the dining table one night and he thrust the doll at me. Make him talk, Mummy. Woody, when brought to life courtesy of moi, sounds like a 34 year old woman, trying to sound cowboy slash american slash toy like. Not pretty. My sweet boy is not cognisant of my theatrical failings. He is giggling and smiling at this doll while I make him chatter and strut. While playing it becomes testing time. We merely say 'tester' to Reuben and he holds out the finger he wishes us to prick. Woody apparently had really rapid onset diabetes. (Sans the dka and hospital stay). He suddenly needs a 'tester' too. My son assembles the strip and loads the lancet. I have to double take. Grasping woodys tiny hand hes pricking his finger and squeezing like crazy. (FFS< I winced for Woody's stuffing.) Hes concentrating so hard to get the little strip up to the fabric finger. Needle time! Reuben is announcing even though Cowboy Woody is 3.3. Busting out some syringes we give Woody his novorapid in back of the arm - Reubens current favourite injection site. Hes very matter of factly telling his sister that you cannot give a needle in the various locales shes trying to stab him. Not the ankle. Not the neck. NOT the armpit!!!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Sometimes caring for Reubens diabetes is like having another child to take care of.

Its needy and demanding and stomps and rants. Its constancy is exhausting.

Even though its a part of him, when I think of my son, diabetes is like somehow a seperate thing. A compartment I can tend to and then keep on treating him like a normal child. As normal as can be, considering. With his multiple daily injections I will be honest and say its morphed into a highly routinised life - despite what they told us at diagnosis. Hes finally eating a full sandwich, or full serving of breakfast cereal. Amounts I can quantify and carb count more accurately. Full units of insulin that fit with those meals.

YAY for that.

2 years coming. Props Reubs :)

Right in time for his 3rd Birthday!

I think back to the difficulty of all those 'guessed' quarter units with a syringe and wonder how we did it. Shovelling food back into a cup to re measure and finally guess what he ate. Then a guess at how much insulin to give to match the guessed food intake (argh!). This picture below reminds me of the full first year. I felt ragged. Like I wasnt going to make it through.

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We did make it through. D-Parents do it tough. Anyone that says differently hasnt walked a mile in our shoes.

When I sneak into his room to poke his fingers through the night, I hold my breath. I check hes breathing. I look for the rise and fall of his little chest. I peek at his hands to see if hes twitching or shaking. He remains asleep but must sense my presence and holds a finger out for me. He inadvertantly begins sucking because this is our routine. I feed him carbs in his sleep to stop his blood sugar dropping dangerously low. And, I kiss his soft button nose, and chubby cheeks. I hold his hand and he wraps his fingers inside mine. Sweet Jesus look after my baby tonight help him wake safely in the morning. The gravity of the disease is heavy. He trusts me to keep him alive. He does as I say and endures the needles, the pokes, shovels in the sugar to treat lows. Lord, please never let me let him down. Simple prayers, but desperate and full of love.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I dont post alot about my other kids, but I have 3. My eldest son is about to turn 8 and hes a busy kid, with Tennis, Swimming, Athletics and school. My middle child is my only daughter, shes in kindergarten; also very busy with swimming, kindy, tots athletics and a real desire for martial arts we just cant seem to squeeze it all in. And then theres the hurricane, my D - child is willful (to be kind about it!)

Anything to save time and headaches, is a saviour to me. When dealing with diabetes, I need easy.

So I got onto this app on my smart phone, called My Fitness Pal. You can plug in the foods you are looking for manually to see nutritional breakdown and add them to a diary if needed. (Im interested in counting carbohydrates primarily). The best partis a little barcode button. When you press that, you can literally scan any food with a barcode right onto your phone and VOILA! Carbohydrate count appears.

Rushing out of target today I thought, frickety frick, no idea how many carbs in that 35g mini m&m tube. Nothing written on it either. I spy a barcode. BINGO> out comes the phone, click on my fitness pal app, bring up the food diary, hit barcode, line up the code until i see it on the screen, red line turns green, phone beeps, theres a read out of the nutritional info with carbs clearly listed. Just love it. Thought Id put it out there incase anyone else on the planet hadnt gotten onto it yet either!